Archive for the ‘Yankees’ Category

Baseball has a timeless tradition of unwritten rules, but this off season, a new law has been added: “Thou shalt not exceed the luxury tax threshold”. Because of the escalating surcharges in the current competitive balance tax (CBT) scheme, avoiding the penalty has become a priority for every team, even the game’s biggest spenders. However, […]

(This updated post was originally published on February 16, 2011) For over 20 years, Tampa has been the Yankees’ spring training home, but it still seems like just yesterday when the team’s camp was located down the coast in Ft. Lauderdale. I am sure most fans who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s still reflexively […]

Major League Baseball has released official final payrolls along with the average annual value calculations used to determine the luxury tax, and once again, the Yankees sit near the top of each list. With a payroll of just over $208 million and tax bill approaching $16 million, the Bronx Bombers look like big spenders, but […]

The Dodgers came within one game of winning the World Series, but they didn’t fall short in the final MLB payroll rankings. For the fourth straight year, Los Angeles led all teams with nearly $247 million spent on players, widening its lead over the Yankees as the sport’s top spender. 2017 Final MLB Payrolls Note: […]

The Yankees began the off season trumpeting their intention to fall below the luxury tax threshold for the first time. With a superstar free agent class looming in 2018, avoiding the tax and resetting the penalty from 50% to 20% was deemed an economic imperative. So, what did Brian Cashman do? He traded for the […]

Masahiro Tanaka has decided to remain with the Yankees, and, in the process, confined the Bronx Bombers’ off season plans to a tight budget. Tanaka’s decision was a linchpin because of the important role he fills in the Yankees’ rotation and the $22 million he gets paid to do it. Because of Hal Steinbrenner’s stated […]

Forget about WAR, FIP, wOBA and other saber creations. EBITDA (earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the metric baseball fans should get to know. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016, but, using EBITDA as a barometer, the Philadelphia Phillies had the last laugh, presumably on their way to the bank. According to Forbes’ annual […]